AT LEAST two Central Bank employees who took early retirement to avoid losing any benefits have been re-hired by the regulator on contracts, the Sunday Mail has learned.
The two, Maria Stefani, secretary of Senior Director Spyros Stavrinakis, and Maria Papadopoulou, were both re-hired on contracts after opting to take early retirement to avoid losing any of their benefits as part of new legislation that came into force this month.
The Central Bank said the contracts were for a short period and were deemed necessary to ensure the smooth operation of the organisation in light of the rising number of early retirements.
Over 1,200 public servants – three-quarters of total retirements in 2012 - including teachers and police officers, opted for early retirement last year to dodge cuts to their pensions and lump sums after the government enacted a series of austerity measures in line with a bailout adjustment programme.
A third retired employee, Andreas Michael, has also been re-hired on a contract, but it was not clear if he too had left early or if he had reached retirement age.
The Central Bank said it was a necessary move to cope with increasing obligations combined with the high number of personnel departures.
The Central Bank is required to ensure the smooth operation of its departments and services, especially at this time, when it is assuming an increasing number of responsibilities, the regulator said.
“It became necessary to offer a small number of work contracts of a limited time period until procedures to hire permanent personnel are completed,” the Central Bank said.
Bank employee union ETYK, which had in the past made a lot of fuss over a similar move, has so far remained silent on the matter.
At the end of 2010, ETYK lodged a complaint with the labour ministry after the Central Bank decided to extend the employment of senior director Costas Poullis beyond the date of his retirement.
At the time, the union also took exception to the Central Bank hiring contract staff.
Under the new regime, public servants’ retirement lump sums will be partially taxed while pension benefits will be calculated on a pro-rata basis taking into account life-time service and not the last salary as it was up until the last day of 2012.

The Central Bank has said only short term contacts have been given

TEN months after leaving empty a post that is essential to the implementation of a National Health Scheme (NHS), the cabinet yesterday appointed a new chairman to the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO).
Thomas Antoniou, a 43-year-old accountant, is the new HIO chairman, government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou announced after the meeting.
The HIO – the organisation tasked with setting up an NHS – has been headless since March last year when the previous chairman, Vassos Shiarly, left to take up the post of finance minister.
The HIO has been unable to take any executive decisions without a chairman, even though the cabinet told the health ministry in June to proceed with the NHS.
Stefanou said yesterday that implementing an NHS was an “imperative need”.
But it was only last week that the government named a potential chairman after a silence of months, said member of the House health committee and EDEK deputy, Roula Mavronicola yesterday questioned the move after months of inactivity on the issue from the government. “It’s been so long since Shiarly left. The government is changing in a month. The question is why now?” she said.
Presidential elections will take place in February and the incumbent president will not be running.  Cyprus – the only EU member state without a national health scheme – set up the HIO in 2001, more than 11 years ago.
The public system is now unable to cope with the numbers of people opting to use state hospitals for financial reasons, and Cyprus’ international lenders have also been putting pressure on to finally put an NHS in place, so that health expenditure can be better controlled.
Cyprus has agreed to delay awarding the tender for the necessary IT-infrastructure to manage the system, so that an actuarial study on the NHS can be updated this year.

THE ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) in Paphos has moved to a new district office close to the city entrance, it said yesterday.
As of Monday, the public will be able to visit the new offices just off the Limassol-Paphos roundabout on 87 Eleftherios Venizelos Avenue.
As of tomorrow afternoon – after office hours -  customer service will be transferred to the new premises (Tel: 26206000)  but the customer service department will operate as normal at the current building on Tepeleniou during EAC office hours.
The new complex, which will be fully operational from Monday, includes a substation, office space, a park and above-ground pedestrian bridge. The park contains an educational energy centre and there are plans to install small renewable energy systems, the EAC said.
The building has been designed to be more energy efficient and is expected to cost up to 50 per cent less to run, the EAC said.
It will also house extravagantly priced furniture with chairs costing €490 a pop.
The EAC was forced to issue an announcement in September after local press said that the architect who won the 2002 competition charged the EAC €215,538 (before VAT).
The EAC said it had actually managed a “significant discount”. Though it would not disclose what this came to, the EAC said that instead of paying €690 each for chairs it would instead pay €490.
The contract for the construction of the €16.5 million new offices was signed in 2009.
Paphos Mayor Savvas Vergas said at the time that the project would help towards the “rejuvenation of the town” as it would be one of the first things visitors to Paphos would see on their way into the town.
Ideas were also being floated about beautifying the area near the new EAC building.
The building was designed by architect Heracles Papachristou, the project includes a lecture hall, walkways, an outdoor park and green spaces.

The new EAC premises in Paphos

AN ANCIENT floor which has not seen the light of day for 10,000 years has been uncovered at the Ayia Varvara-Asprokremmos site, the antiquities department said yesterday.
The department said new finds during the latest excavations had redefined the understanding of the kind of human occupation that existed at the Neolithic site in the Nicosia district, which has been radio-carbon dated to between c. 8,800-8,600 BC.
The excavations took place in November 2012 and were run by Dr Carole McCartney on behalf of the University of Cyprus working in partnership with Cornell University and the University of Toronto.
According to an announcement, the floor which “was exposed for the first time in 10,000 years” exhibited a dished form, raised above the central area providing a rough bench that ran along the circumference of the interior wall.
The floor was made of trampled mud, refreshed by erosional washed sediments that appear to have collected during short term (perhaps seasonal) abandonment events.
“As seen in the northern side of the feature, ash heaps and stone tools were stratified in a sequence of repeated use events,” the department said. 
The presence of buried artefacts (usable, but abandoned) and evidence of erosional episodes indicated the punctuated character of the structure’s occupation, while the nature of the artefacts demonstrated the domestic character of the building, it added.
Constructional features illustrated the significant degree of investment given to the building, including the deeply dished form of the building dug into bedrock and a 10-15 cm thick wall lining.
The department said the latter exhibited significant evidence of burning and was likely constructed of an organic super-structure of branches cemented in place by mud plaster. 
It said the finds suggested a decline in the investment applied to the construction of shelters utilised at the site, and a shift towards a more temporary architectural form during later phases of occupation.  A large carefully engraved teardrop-shaped picrolite pendant, representing a more developed form of ornament than those recovered previously, was also recovered.
Renewed excavation in another area of the site uncovered a unique arrangement of chalk slabs encircling a large hearth-like setting of burnt stone.
“This provides important information regarding the activities conducted at the site,” said the department, adding that the indications were the site may have been used for the tanning of animal, and specifically pig, skins as multi-coloured pigments, including red, yellow, orange, purple and grey ochre as well as bright green, terra verde, were found.

FORMER HEALTH Minister Stavros Malas yesterday confirmed that he wrote off medical fees worth over €7,000 for the former Syrian ambassador at the request of President Demetris Christofias.
Daily Phileleftheros reported yesterday that the Syrian diplomat failed to pay medical debts worth €7,373 in total, after receiving treatment on three different occasions at the Nicosia General Hospital while serving as Syrian ambassador to Cyprus.
According to the paper, Nicosia hospital wrote to the ambassador on October 10, 2010 seeking payment for two unpaid bills dating back to November 11 and December 3 of 2009 for a total sum of €6,337.
The Syrian diplomat also underwent treatment at the hospital on October 7, 2010, costing a further €1,036. None of the three bills were paid by the diplomat.
On December 6, 2011- two years after the diplomat’s initial treatment, the hospital letter ended up on the desk of Malas, who was serving as health minister at the time. The next day, reported Phileleftheros, Malas gave instructions to his permanent secretary to write off the debts, explaining that Christofias had assured the diplomat the debt would be erased in the public interest.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, Malas said: “The president had given his personal pledge to the Syrian diplomat to write off the debt. It is at the minister’s discretion to write off medical bills, and given the president’s commitment, I chose to write off his debts. He was not even working on the island anymore. He had already left the country.”
Asked what criteria need to be fulfilled for someone to receive preferential treatment in not paying medical bills owed to the state, the AKEL-backed presidential candidate said: “I did the same for hundreds of citizens who were unable to pay their debts. I helped a lot of people while I was minister to write off their debts.” 
Malas explained that there were three categories with regards to payment of medical bills. Category A included people living under a certain low income and civil servants entitled to free health care. Category B covered families with two children earning in total between €33,000 and €40,000 who were entitled to lower fees. The third category was people earning above that threshold who were not eligible for concessions. 
In any case, noted Malas, the troika had now abolished Category B and all exemptions for access to free public health care that are not based on income criteria except for persons suffering from certain chronic diseases depending on illness severity, while leaving the current income threshold for beneficiaries of Category ‘A’ unchanged.
Asked whether the Syrian diplomat faced financial difficulties at the time, the presidential candidate replied: “It’s not necessarily about income, sometimes there are other issues at play.” 


 

THE NUMBER of breakfasts given out by the Limassol Bishopric to needy schoolchildren has tripled compared to this time last year, and the number of meals given to the poor has doubled according to the Bishop of Limassol, Athanasios.
“The number of breakfasts  being given to needy pupils this time last year was 480 but that number has increased to 1,312,” he said. “If you calculate the number of breakfasts given out by other parishes [in the Limassol district] that number reaches 1,450 a day,” he added.
He said the number of meals being given to needy members of the public had doubled from 300 this time last year to 600 this year. And, that doesn’t include the 200-300 people who also receive clothing, food packages and money according to the Bishop.
The Limassol Bishop was speaking at the launch of a series of charity events being organised by the Limassol branch of primary school teachers' union POED and the Parents and Guardian’s association for elementary schools in the district.
 “I hope the people will see this all of this in a positive light during these difficult times because we have passed more difficult periods before,” he said. “We shouldn’t become pessimists as together we can face these difficulties with the help of God,” he added.
The new fundraisers will begin on Sunday with a blood donation taking place in the courtyard of the Church of Ayios Georgiou Havouzas after mass and will continue the following Sunday at 11am with a football match between teachers and parents at the Ayios Athanasios football pitch. On Saturday and Sunday, January 26 and 27, two plays will take place at the KZ Primary School. For both the plays and the football match there will be a €5 entrance charge.

AROUND 2,200 school breakfasts were picked up and delivered to primary schools around the island yesterday as part of the Shacolas’ Group contribution to the Education Ministry’s attempts to feed needy children.
It was the first day that returning needy pupils received their free breakfast.
“We are very happy with how things went and have received a positive first impression,” said former health minister Charis Charalambous who is chairman for the committee responsible for handing out the breakfasts. “Under our close supervision we have guaranteed the quality of food given to children is in line with the company’s reputation and we are sure that the programme will continue successfully,” he added.
The breakfast is in the form of a sandwich prepared at a Shacolas Group factory and then delivered to drop-off points in Nicosia, Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca where representatives of the education ministry pick up the supplies and deliver them to the primary schools.
 In Nicosia the drop off point is Artopolis Bakery opposite the Mall of Nicosia, in Limassol at the Apollon Debenhams, Paphos at the Korivos Debenhams and in Larnaca at the Zinon Debenhams. The sandwiches are prepared the night before and stored in special fridges before they are delivered at 7.15am the next day.
“We are currently producing around 2,200 sandwiches a day as were ordered by the ministry of education but we can produce up to 5,000 if needs be,” Charalambous said.
“The ministry will do its best to make sure that no child goes hungry,” said a ministry official yesterday. The official number of needy children, according to the ministry is 5,000 but more than half of those already receive assistance from the Church and from parent committee donations.

FORMER Central Bank governor Athanasios Orphanides yesterday accused the leader of ruling AKEL of lying about the circumstances that led him to hold on to a pair of laptop hard drives after he left the job.
The issue emerged last September with Orphanides being accused of withholding data and documents belonging to the banking regulator.
The former governor rubbished the allegations at the time and threatened legal action.
“Any allegations that are not consistent with the events (outlined in a September 6, 2012 statement) are false and completely unsubstantiated,” Orphanides’ lawyers said yesterday.
The announcement followed comments by AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou a few days ago, suggesting a lot of information contained on the drives had been deleted. This information should have been passed on to a professional firm investigating why the island’s two main banks sought state assistance, he said.
Daily Haravghi, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, yesterday ran a front page report saying Orphanides had refused to take delivery of a letter from the Central Bank asking him to return the drives.
The paper said a private bailiff visited Orphanides’ home in the village of Lefkara and despite there being someone inside, whoever they were, did not open the door when they were told it was a bailiff.
Orphanides is currently in the USA and it could not be immediately confirmed if any members of his family were still in Cyprus.
Haravghi said “a member of the family refused to accept the letter” – although the door was never opened.
After waiting for some time, the bailiff departed after sliding the letter under the door, the paper said.
Back in September, Orphanides said he had no document belonging to the Central Bank in his possession.
The hard drives in question contained his personal correspondence, which could not be deleted, he said through his lawyers.
“That was the reason why, during talks between Mr Orphanides and bank officials prior to his departure in April 2012, it was decided that the hard drives would be removed from these laptops before the latter were to be returned to the Central Bank,” it was said at the time.
Orphanides served as governor between May 2007 and May 2012.
His departure triggered recriminations between himself and the government, with Orphanides blaming the administration for the ills of the economy. The government in turn blamed the banking crisis, and a weak regulatory framework on Orphanides, during his five-year stewardship.

THE coldest day of the winter so far, yesterday saw the closure of roads and schools in several areas as snowfall reached as far down as the village of Tseri in Nicosia.
With varying degrees of snowfall in all districts – Famagusta reported its first snows in 40 years -  a total of four mountain roads were closed yesterday with another 29 labelled by police as dangerous, while a total of eight primary schools and two secondary schools were shut, including several in the Paphos district.
Temperatures fell to 7C inland, between 10C and 11C on the coast and -2C in Prodromos. Overnight on Tuesday they had fallen to 1C inland, between 2C and 4C on the coast and -6C in mountain areas.
Yesterday would normally have been the first day back to school for many children but because of the hazardous roads a total of ten remained closed in snow-hit areas.
This meant that parents were unable to register their children but head of primary education, Elpidoforos Neoclous appeased any concerns from parents. “The schools and the Education Ministry are flexible and understand that some children were unable to attend school due to the bad weather,” he said. “They can register them in the coming days when the roads clear up,” he added.
In addition to heavy snowfall in the mountains, the arrival of snow to lower lying areas also caused problems due to icy roads.
The Platres – Troodos, Prodromos – Troodos, Karvouna – Troodos and Agros – Troodos roads were closed yesterday for all cars.
The Ayias Koronis – Farmakas – Palechori, Palechori–Agros, Askas – Fterikoudi, Alonas–Polystypos–Platanistassa, Lagoudera–Farmakas, Kakopetria–Karvouna roads were deemed to be dangerous with only hose cars having chains or four-wheel drive advised to travel on them.
Similarly the Kakopetria–Pinewood–Pedoulas, Spilia– Kannavia, Pedoulas–Prodromos, Pedoulas–Kampos–Kykkos, Kalopanayiotis – Pedoulas, Prodromos – Lemythou, Lemythou – Treis Elies, Kampos – Stavrou tis Psokas, Kampos – Orkonta, Vyzakia – Kapouras roads were also dangerous as were several others in the Limassol and Paphos districts.
In the Limassol district the Erimis – Kyvides – Platres road was closed for the same reason while the Tsadas – Stroumbi, Asproyia – Panayia, Panayia – Pentalia, Trachypedoula - Ayiou Nikolaou Kelokardari – Salamis, Salamis – Ayios Ioannis, Arodes – Kathika, Pegia – Kathika, Kathika – Drousha, Kathika – Stroumbi and Tsadas – Stroumbi roads were also deemed dangerously slippery.  The roads between Pachna and Kyvides and Tsada and Mesoyi were also deemed to be dangerous.
“Drivers heading towards mountainous areas are advised to use chains when possible if they do not drive a four-wheel drive car,” police spokesman Andreas Angelides said. “They are also advised to keep their cars in a low gear while also having their lights turned on in foggy areas,” he added. “The public is advised to be extra careful and should they get into an accident or notice adverse weather conditions they should call the citizens helpline on 1460,” he added.
The freezing temperatures have meant that many people in mountain areas have had to resort to burning wood to heat their homes according to Kyperounta community leader Giorgos Panayiotou. “Since the dissolution of the heating allowance that people received from the state, many have had trouble heating their houses and have resolved to burning wood,” he said.
The depth of snow at the peak of Troodos yesterday reached 40 centimetres while in Troodos square it reached 30 centimetres as community leader in the mountain village of Kalopanayiotis, despite the problems, hailed the weather as magical. “These truly are magical moments as everything is covered in snow,” deputy community leader for Kalopanayiotis, Pambos Christodoulou said. “We invite those who are able to come and share these moments to join us,” he added.
Snow also covered the occupied northern peaks of the Pentadaktylos mountains yesterday with reports suggesting a depth of 10cm to 13cm. According to reports, roads in occupied Kyrenia were also shut due to the snowfall. Police in the north warned drivers to be especially careful.
The weather is due to warm up somewhat as of today.
“Despite it being the coldest day so far this winter, snow and ice will slowly disappear as the weather-front is moving north-easterly and from midnight [last night] onwards we should see an improvement in weather conditions,” said senior meteorological officer Kleanthis Nicolaides. “From Thursday [today] we should see a gradual return to usual temperatures for this time of year,” he added.
According to the forecasts the temperature inland will rise to 11C today with 12C on the coast and zero in the mountains.

 

Tembria village blanketed in snow yesterday (Christos Theodorides)

MEMBERS of the House finance committee, reportedly, persuaded the Central Bank at a meeting on Tuesday night to try to push for a lower amount for the recapitalisation of the banks so that the debt Cyprus would require would be sustainable. As has been reported, if the recapitalisation amount decided by PIMCO – the company brought in to investigate the capital needs of the banks and co-ops - remained at €10 billion the Cyprus debt would be unsustainable, making the privatisation of semi-governmental organisations and a haircut of the government debt necessary.
Earlier on Tuesday, at a finance committee meeting attended by the Central Bank governor, deputies expressed bewilderment about the way the banking needs that were expected to be no more than €6 billion had risen to €10 billion. The governor was accused by opposition deputies of not objecting to the methodology, proposed by the troika, for calculating the financial needs. They claimed that the Central Bank should not have allowed forecasts of the worst case scenario to have been included in PIMCO’s terms of reference and criticised the Bank for supposedly allowing the investigation to be based on ultra-pessimistic assumptions about growth rates, unemployment and property prices.
The belief that the government and the Central Bank wanted to bloat the financial needs of the banking sector, in order to shift blame for the poor state of the economy away from the government, is widely held among opposition parties. Even if this were the intention, it does not mean that the troika would have necessarily agreed to a different methodology and less pessimistic assumptions about the performance of the economy, being used by PIMCO. Irrespective of who is to blame, it has finally dawned on everyone – Central Bank, the government and opposition parties that €10 billion would make the debt unsustainable.
We have been aware that this would be the amount, subject to PIMCO’s confirmation, since November, but nothing was done. On Tuesday night, just one week before PIMCO’s report is to be released and two weeks before the Euro group meeting to discuss our bailout, everyone has united in an effort to secure a lowering of the financial needs of the banks. As with everything, we have left something of critical importance to the last minute, thus minimising the chances of securing the desired result.
The Central Bank has commissioned a second study from another big consultancy firm, Black Rock, in the hope that its calculation of the banks’ needs would be significantly lower and use this to counter PIMCO’s figure. Apart from this, the governor told deputies there were also other ways of making the troika loan serviceable – extending of the repayment period of the €2.5 billion loan from Russia, turning all the convertible bonds issued by the banks into shares and privatising SGOs.
We can only hope the Central Bank has not left everything too late.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday there could be no special bailout conditions for Cyprus that did not include the need for economic reforms such as privatisations, which have been ruled out by President Demetris Christofias.
At the same time, a senior member of Merkel’s centre-right coalition said the German parliament was unlikely to back financial aid for Cyprus at the present time due to concerns about transparency.
Merkel, who is expected on the island tomorrow for a gathering of European Union conservative parties, said yesterday there could be no special bailout conditions for Cyprus that did not include the need for economic reforms such as privatisations.
"We agree it is important that the troika should talk with Cyprus and that there can be no special conditions for Cyprus because we have common rules in Europe," Merkel told a news conference. "We are far from the end of the talks."
She was speaking after talks with visiting Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who said that "privatisations were one of the key elements that allowed Malta to move forward" and make its economy more competitive.
Christofias has said that he would not agree to privatisations but it might not be up to him in the end. German newspaper Handelsblatt reported yesterday that Cyprus can only expect a bailout in early March after the presidential election next month as eurozone finance ministers want to wait to work with Christofias’ successor.
"The incumbent Christofias categorically rejects the sale of state companies. Without privatisation revenues the country cannot be reformed," the paper quoted sources in Brussels as saying.
Earlier before Merkel’s comments, Rainer Bruederle of the Free Democrats (FDP), junior partner in Merkel's coalition, told Bild newspaper:  “There are many question marks regarding Cyprus. On the basis of what we know so far I do not see a majority (in the lower house Bundestag) for financial aid. If the impression exists that German taxpayers are to be liable for dirty money, the aid would not be manageable or acceptable.”   This was an apparent reference to concerns over Cyprus' popularity as a tax haven for wealthy Russians.
Further complicating the outlook for the island, a senior member of Germany's main opposition Social Democrats (SPD) was quoted yesterday as saying his party would not support financial aid for Cyprus.
"As matters stand, I cannot imagine that German taxpayers save Cypriot banks whose business model is based on facilitating tax evasion," SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily.
The centre-left SPD, which hopes to oust conservative Merkel in elections due in September, has taken a hard line against tax evasion, including by wealthy Germans who squirrel away cash in Swiss bank accounts.
Merkel would need SPD votes to secure German parliamentary backing for a Cypriot bailout.
"If Mrs Merkel wants SPD support for a Cyprus bailout package she will need good reasons. At present I do not see them," said Gabriel, whose party is lagging well behind Merkel's Christian Democrats in opinion polls.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted German government sources as saying Merkel would only seek parliamentary backing for a Cypriot bailout if Nicosia embraces "radical reforms.”
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou rejected the money laundering allegations later yesterday, describing the attacks as unfair.
The government has repeatedly said it fully conforms with international rules against money laundering.
Asked if the government was concerned about the possibility of the attacks being part of a plan to force foreign capital to leave the country – a belief held by many on the island -- Stefanou said this should be everyone’s concern.
“Cyprus is a financial and investment centre and this is exactly the reason we always defend Cyprus, its economy and the procedures we follow,” Stefanou said. “We are not seeking the expediencies, we are defending Cyprus from the attacks with the arguments that we have.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to reporters in Berlin yesterday

FORMER Central Bank governor Athanasios Orphanides revealed yesterday that a pair of laptop hard drives he has been accused of not returning to the regulator, were in fact removed with the agreement of the bank’s IT officials.
The current Central Bank administration has been trying to retrieve the hard drives while ruling AKEL has accused the former governor of withholding data and documents belonging to the regulator.
Orphanides had always said that he had no documents in his possession belonging to the Central Bank and that the controversial drives contained his personal correspondence, which could not be deleted.
He said yesterday that they had been removed with the agreement of the officials of the regulator’s IT department.
The former governor also hit back at a report in AKEL’s mouthpiece Haravghi, which claimed that he, or members of his family, had refused to take delivery of a letter from the Central Bank demanding the return of the drives.
Orphanides wondered why the regulator chose to sent a private bailiff to his home in Lefkara when it knew he was in the USA and that he was represented by lawyers whose office was just 200 metres from the Central Bank building.
“It is sad that the new objective appears to be harassing members of Mr. Orphanides’ family,” a press statement issued by his lawyers said.

THERE IS no dispute between Cyprus and Lebanon over the issue of hydrocarbons, and the two nations are keen to work together on energy, President Demetris Christofias said yesterday.
“We have a common interest with Lebanon because we have a common Exclusive Economic Zone, so there is no problem between us,” Christofias said in Beirut during an official visit there.
“Of course,” he added, “there is the problem between Lebanon and Israel, and efforts are being made to bridge the difference.”
Christofias expressed the hope that soon Lebanon would proceed with the licensing of its own offshore blocks, and noted that Lebanon wanted to gain from Cyprus' experience and that Cyprus was ready to pass it on.
The President was seeking to downplay the issue of the EEZs which cuts through Cyprus’ relations and agreements with both Lebanon and Israel.
Nicosia signed an agreement defining the EEZ with Lebanon in 2007, although this has yet to be ratified by the Lebanese parliament.
The coordinates of Lebanon’s own delimitation of its land and maritime borders with Israel, submitted to the UN in 2010, create an overlap of some 850 square kilometres with Israeli-claimed maritime territory. Lebanon’s demands for Cyprus to adjust its delimitation agreement with Israel so as to reflect Lebanon’s claims have been rebuffed by Nicosia. Both Cyprus and the US have sent diplomats to the region in an attempt to mediate between Lebanon and Israel.
During Christofias’ visit to Beirut the two nations signed two defence agreements: one on defence and military cooperation and another on the mutual protection and exchange of classified information, signed by the countries’ respective defence ministers.
Defence Minister Demetris Eliades said the agreements were a significant step in the further bolstering of bilateral relations and that Cyprus would be developing balanced relations through reliable and multifaceted defence diplomacy with its neighbours in the sector of defence and security.
Addressing a state dinner later in the day, Christofias expressed the belief that talks with the Lebanese government would enhance cooperation between the two states in all areas.
Cyprus became a safe haven for Lebanese citizens during the difficult years of the Lebanese war, he said, while Cyprus supports the liberation of the occupied territories of Lebanon and all Arab territories as well as the peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue in accordance with international law.
“We also welcome the policy of President Sleiman and the Lebanese government to keep the country away from the crisis in neighbouring Syria, while addressing the humanitarian problems, by offering shelter to tens of thousands of displaced people from the neighbouring country,” Christofias said.

Guard of Honour for President Demetris Christofias in Lebanon (PIO)

THE ARCHBISHOP yesterday reasserted his readiness to let the historic Apostolos Andreas Monastery in occupied Karpasia collapse rather than sign onto any plan that does not state that the Church of Cyprus owns the site.
“I’ve said it before that I would rather see the monastery collapse than let go of the property. The monastery is ours,” Archbishop Chrysostomos II said.
He was talking to state broadcaster CyBC, which asked him to comment on an announcement made this week by the ‘TRNC’ saying they would fund a project to fix the complex’s church alone, citing delays on the part of the Greek Cypriots.
After decades of neglect following the 1974 Turkish invasion, the monastery complex now needs to be renovated.
However, efforts to get all stakeholders to agree have so far failed.
The Primate yesterday blamed the bicommunal technical committee assigned to  protect the island’s cultural heritage.
“I’m sorry to say that this bicommunal committee has done nothing. I can say its stance has been negative rather than positive,” the Archbishop said.
The bicommunal committee was created in April 2008 and has helped in seeing through the renovation of religious monuments on both sides of the divide, including the Ayios Armolaos church in Kyrenia, the Saint Mamas church in Lapithos, and has been fixing the Tophane Mescit mosque and the Akaki mosque in Nicosia.
It has also been co-ordinating Apostolos Andreas’ restoration efforts for the past year.
But the Church has refused to agree because a document prepared by the United Nations Development Programme names them only as donors.
“We are not donors, we are owners,” the Archbishop said adding that he was willing to pay to fix the church but not if it meant foregoing the Church’s rights.
“If we make a mistake, they will make out as if the monastery belongs to EVKAF,” he said referring to the Turkish Cypriot religious foundation.
It was in 2010 when the UN suggested that EVKAF could oversee the site’s restoration that the Primate originally said that he would rather let the monument collapse than forego ownership.
The co-chairman of the technical committee Takis Hadjidemetriou issued an announcement clarifying that the UNDP was following protocol differentiating between donors and owners.
The UNDP “has globally signed similar documents in thousands of cases and it surely could not change them in the case of Apostolos Andreas,” he said adding that the signature of the owner – in this case the Church – would anyway be necessary for when tenders were proclaimed.
“What we can say today is that if those responsible in the Church displayed a spirit of trust and cooperation, the monastery’s restoration project would be at a far more advanced stage today,” Hadjidemetriou said.
But the Archbishop expressed concerns over the intentions of the ‘TRNC’.
“I don’t know what their plans are, if they plan to clear the space to build a hotel, I don’t know. And this situation worries me,” he said yesterday.
But he added, “we insist that the monastery is ours; we will not back down on this point”.

TWO British permanent residents, aged 30 and 24, were arrested yesterday afternoon after being spotted paragliding in the area of Larnaca airport.
In addition to their actions being a danger to aircraft, police were concerned at the security breach a day before the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a host of other European dignitaries to attend a conference in Limassol.
Police tried to track down the two culprits after receiving a tip-off shortly before 5pm but the paragliders gave them the slip, hiding the equipment in nearby Oroklini when they realised the police were after them. However police were later able to track them down. They are due to appear in court this morning. Although they are not suspected of any criminal intent, they did act illegally if unwittingly, by gliding in the area of the airport.
Security is tight for the arrival of participants in the Limassol conference today.
Police Spokesman Andreas Angelides said yesterday the security measures will be in force from the moment the EU leaders arrive, through their stay and participation in the conference, up to their departure.
 He said that around 180 members of the police force would be involved in the operation, and that two crisis centres would be operating, one at police headquarters in Nicosia, and one in Limassol.

A YOUNG man drove his car into a branch of Bank of Cyprus in Nicosia just before 1pm yesterday injuring a 63-year-old man on a motorcycle and a 66-year-old male customer inside the bank.
The motorist veered off the road onto the pavement after hitting a bus sideways seconds earlier, police said. According to reports, the car was travelling from Kaimakli to Nicosia on Stasinou Avenue, side-by-side with a bus when the two vehicles collided, causing the car driver to lose control of his vehicle.
He first hit the 63-year-old who had come out of the bank and was ready to get on his parked motorcycle, dragging him with the car through the bank’s window.  The black saloon came to a stop only at the queue counter but not before hitting the 66-year-old who was in the queuing area.
The two injured men were taken to Nicosia General Hospital but according to a police spokesman their injuries were not life-threatening. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

The black saloon came to a stop at the area where people queue up (Christos Theodorides)

THE government has approved draft legislation regulating the cremation of human remains, finally getting the ball rolling on an issue that has been pending for more than a decade.
The right to be cremated after death has been the long-standing demand of many expats living in Cyprus - a bill to build a crematorium was first drafted and presented to parliament in 2000 by Marios Matsakis, then an MP - though it is believed that a growing number of Cypriots would also go for that option if it was available.
A 2006 draft did not include Cypriots but it was amended some three years later to redress the inequality.
At present, the only choice for those who want to be cremated is to fork out thousands of euros for their body to be embalmed and transported to a country of their choice.
The legislation, submitted to parliament on Tuesday, includes provisions on the licensing and operation of crematoriums and where the ashes can be kept or scattered.
Cremation permits will be issued by district officers.
The right to decide on whether one’s remains would be cremated belongs to individuals defined in the bill in order of priority.
“Without however ignoring the expressed desire of the deceased,” the bill said.
According to the bill, the urn containing the ashes can be kept in a special chamber provided by the crematorium, or any cemetery that operates in accordance with certain rules.
The urn can also be kept or buried on private property – house or garden – with the owner’s consent where necessary, and after securing the permission of the district officer.
It can also be buried at sea – over two nautical miles from the nearest shoreline -- and as long as the urn is biodegradable and does not contain pollutants.
“The urn containing the ashes of human remains cannot be sunk in any river, lake, reservoir or water conduit,” the bill said.
The urn can be transported abroad with a special permission from the district officer.
The ashes can be scattered at the place of remembrance set up in crematoriums, private gardens, and anywhere at sea away from areas reserved for bathers.
They cannot be scattered on public roads, public parks, river beds, lakes, reservoirs, or water conduits.
Cremation has been commonplace in many cultures for thousands of years. The funeral pyre was commonplace in ancient Greece and cremation has always been practiced in India. Even in Cyprus, the idea is not particularly new. Burial vessels associated with cremation dating back to the 11th century BC have been unearthed at Kourion.

PRESIDENTIAL candidate Giorgos Lillikas earned around €115,000 last year, while he and his wife are worth a combined €4m, figures disclosed by his election staff show.
According to a statement released yesterday – signed by accounting firm G. Josephakis Audit Ltd – Lillikas’ income was €19,500 in 2009, €72,704 in 2010 and €115,923 in 2011.
The 52 year-old has no deposits in banks. His assets include a residence and plot of land in his home village of Panayia, Paphos, with a market value (1980 prices) of €1,879 and €34, respectively.
In the statement, Lillikas urged his fellow candidates to publish details of their finances “in the interests of transparency.”
Lillikas owns a car purchased for €47,841, stock in a private limited company purchased at €3,000, and stock in public listed companies worth €32,114.
He owns stock worth €26,136 in Arch Capital Group Ltd, the statement noted, specifying that the amount is remuneration for his services as managing consultant with the company.
His wife Barbara had revenues of €81,017, €52,553 and €52,553 for the years 2009 through 2011. She holds Bank of Cyprus securities of a market value of €22,724.
The couple have jointly taken out a loan of €493,337 from the Strovolos co-operative bank, and another loan (again jointly) from Popular Bank worth €373,744.
Mrs. Lillikas has around €1m deposited with Popular Bank, of which €854,000 came from the sale of immovable property in Mosfiloti in 2008. Additionally she has borrowed €967,920 from Marketway Ltd, a company she owns.
The candidate’s spouse owns a plot of land and a residence on the same plot in Geri, purchased for €109,137 and €1,216,579, respectively. Mrs. Lillikas also owns a plot of land and buildings on the same plot at Neo Horio Pafou, purchased for €341,720 and €550,000, respectively.
She further owns one-sixth of immovable property in New York purchased for €231,844, a car purchased for €58,067, and has stock worth €47,841 in a private company and shares worth €39,006 in public listed companies.
Back in October AKEL-backed candidate Stavros Malas published his personal finances although the data provided could not be described as detailed. DISY leader Nicos Anastasiades has yet to disclose his assets, but has promised to do so.

CYPRUS’ public debt will peak in 2014 to less than 150 per cent of GDP and follow a downward trend after that so that by 2020 it would be close to 100 per cent, the finance ministry said yesterday.
“The analysis we do shows that the debt, despite being at very high levels, is manageable and under the conditions we describe it can be sustainable,” Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said after a presentation to EU ambassadors.
According to Shiarly, the scenario applied by the ministry assumed banks would need €10 billion to recapitalise since the final figure has not been calculated yet.
Cyprus fears its debt may be deemed unsustainable after a bailout, prompting fresh austerity that will include privatisations.
In a presentation, the ministry’s director of economic research and EU affairs Andreas Charalambous, said Cyprus has officially requested the extension of the repayment of a €2.5 billion loan received from Russia from 2016 to 2021.
“We presume that the request … will receive a favourable response,” Charalambous told diplomats. He added that the extension would contribute further to the sustainability of Cyprus’ debt.
Charalambous said Cyprus would effectively go bankrupt if it was not granted the requested assistance and warned that this would also have unpredictable repercussions for the eurozone that could not be fully appreciated at this point, but should not be underestimated.
The ministry official said the biggest problem currently faced by Cyprus is the lack of confidence in the banking sector, which posed risks to financial stability.
“An early political agreement on MoU (bailout) would facilitate financing sovereign debt, as well as help minimising risks for the banking sector,” he said.
Charalambous argued against a write-down of Cypriot debt, saying it would hurt the banks that needed assistance in the first place.
It would also be particularly harmful to pension funds and insurance companies, he said.
Meanwhile the members of an Independent Commission on the future of the Cypriot banking sector will be in Cyprus next week to continue their contacts with various stakeholders and regulatory authorities who have or had a role in the activities of the banking sector.
The objective is to assess the data in relation to how the banking system found itself in the current situation.
The Independent Commission on the Future of the Cyprus Banking Sector was set up by the Central Bank to explore the issues currently facing the Cyprus banking system, and make recommendations on ways to enhance growth, stability and competitiveness of the system to benefit the local economy in the longer term.
The Commission is composed of independent experts on banking and financial regulations. The Commission consults widely for its report and is seeking submissions from interested parties.
The Commission, which was established in November 2012, expects to produce an interim report in mid-2013, and a final report in November 2013. Both the interim and the final report will be published, while the final report will be handed over to the Governor of the Central Bank.

SUCCESSIVE governments have been promising to import natural gas to power the Electricity Authority’s (EAC) power generators, for more than 10 years now, but nothing ever happens. The Clerides government, which stepped down 10 years ago, had first made plans for the project, but these were never implemented. The Papadopoulos government also embraced the idea but abandoned the plan for an offshore terminal, after it was revealed that the company that would set it up was represented by the late president’s law office.
It was a pity that this project fell through because natural gas would have been available long before now and the penalties the EAC would be paying for carbon emissions would have been significantly reduced. Under the current government, the EAC was on the verge of signing a contract with a multi-national but this initiative was thwarted by strong opposition from the political parties which felt that the duration of the deal was too long. We would have our own supply of natural gas long before the expiry of the contract, it was argued.
So we could only view the latest initiative, undertaken by the Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) with a level of scepticism. The initiative may have the blessing of the current government and expressions of interest were received from a significant number of companies. DEFA short-listed 14 companies and sent them tender documents which must be submitted by early February.
There are strong grounds to believe the latest initiative would be successful, said Commerce minister Neoclis Sylikiotis. He said the procedure would not be affected by the presidential elections, as negotiations would be conducted by DEFA and the EAC, the latter having an incentive for the speedy conclusion of an agreement. Electricity production with natural gas, by 2015 is a condition for the Authority receiving a €130 million loan for the European Investment Bank.
Sylikiotis’ admission that the use of natural gas – it has not yet been decided if it would arrive in liquefied or compressed form –would not dramatically cut the price of electricity was a disappointment, but not unexpected. The supply contract would only be for three to four years, until September 2018 when Cyprus expects to have the infrastructure to process its own gas reserves. In short, the supplier would have a relatively short period of time to recoup the investment and this would be reflected in a higher unit price.
The truth is that electricity rates, the highest in the EU, will remain high for as long as there is no competition in power production and the EAC price-setting monopoly has no incentive to cut the extortionate wages it pays its workers. Our power stations might finally be fuelled by natural gas in 2015, but it will not make much difference to consumers’ pockets.